The Twelve Days of Mourning
by wickedozgirl
Summary: Oneshot set between 'Serious' and 'What You Want'. The twelve days from when Warner breaks up with Elle to when she finally comes out of her room.


**A/N: My second Legally Blonde fanfiction! Read and review, hope you enjoy!**

Day Zero

"I'm not serious... But I'm seriously _in love_ with you!" cried Elle as she ran out of the restaurant Warner had taken her to. She had started the night thinking that soon she would be engaged to Warner Huntington III, but instead, he had just dumped her.

Luckily, it wasn't that far from the restaurant back to the Delta Nu house on the outskirts of the UCLA campus. She yanked her heels off and ran as fast as she could, tears pouring down her face, causing her mascara to leave black trails along her cheeks and dark smudges under her eyes. The breeze whipped her blonde hair around as she ran, leaving tangles all through it, but Elle didn't even care.

She burst through the door of the house and sprinted upstairs to her room, sobbing loudly. As she ran down the hallway, Delta Nus poked their head out of each bedroom door in surprise. They exchanged glances, but none of them dared to try and comfort her. Except for Serena, Margot and Pilar. The three girls, who were best friends with Elle, followed her down the hallway and knocked on Elle's door, which she had just slammed.

"Sweetie?" called Serena. "Elle, what happened?"

"Is the ring ugly? Or too small?" asked Margot naively.

The two brunettes glared at her. "Shhh!" they said angrily. Then all three listened, hearing Elle's sobs increase.

Pilar knocked again. "Elle, sweetie, please talk to us. We're you're best friends, surely we can help you!"

Elle slowly opened the door, revealing her messy hair, red face and puffy eyes to the girls.

All three were shocked, but tried to hide their expressions as best they could. They entered the room and surrounded Elle, giving her their signature group hug. At the gentle touch of her friends, Elle collapsed into their arms. They moved her over to the bed and lay her down carefully, sitting down next to her, stroking her hair.

Elle looked at them all for a second, grateful that she had such good friends, then broke down into tears again.

"W-Warner b-broke up with m-me!" she wailed, hiccupping her way through the confession.

The Delta Nus gasped.

"That bastard!"

"What a dickhead!"

"Why the hell would he do that? You're _Elle Woods_, for God's sake! You're the most popular girl at UCLA, and the hottest, too! You're the girl that all the guys want, and all the girls want to be!" cried Serena indignantly.

"Apparently, I'm not 'serious' enough for him," replied Elle, still sobbing. "He wants me to be less of a Marilyn and more of a Jackie, whatever that means. I don't understand!" She sniffed, and added quietly, "But if you girls don't mind, I'd like to be alone now."

They obediently got off the bed, each giving her a hug before moving to the door.

"Night, Elle, we love you," they whispered. Margot turned off the light and pulled the door shut behind her.

Day One

Elle finally fell asleep after five hours of lying in bed, crying and thinking about Warner. She had loved him so much, and was sure that he felt the same way about her. She was his Pooh Bear.

The first thing she noticed when she woke up was that her sheets smelled like Warner. And sex. She had been too lazy to change the sheets for the last couple of weeks, and she and Warner had been having sex in her bed every night for the last month. For a second, she imagined that she was curled up in Warner's arms, naked of course, and he was pressing kisses along her shoulder and neck as she woke up. He would have rolled her over and made love to her before she was even properly awake, but by the end she would be well and truly awake, screaming his name loud enough to wake up the rest of the Delta Nu girls. It was a daily occurrence, but they had gotten used to it. It was their alarm clock.

Elle was brought back to reality by the harsh realisation that this would no longer happen. She would never wake up in bed with Warner again. Tears flooded her eyes for the first time of what would be many that day, and she let them run their course, too tired and upset to bother trying to stem their flow.

She spent the rest of the day alternating between sleeping and crying.

Day Two

On the second day after Warner had broken up with her, Elle snuck out of her room at four o'clock in the morning. She was starving, but hadn't wanted to leave the safety of her room. Now was the most opportune time to raid the kitchen, seeing as no one was awake and therefore she didn't have to face the humiliation of being seen by one of the sorority girls in her current state.

She grabbed whatever she could find and threw it all into a garbage bag to take back up to her room. Packets of chips and lollies, bars of chocolate, boxes of cookies, bottles of soft drink... She needed a major junk food fix.

Days Three, Four, Five, Six & Seven

Elle stayed in her room for the rest of the week, mourning the loss of her relationship. She stayed huddled up in bed all day every day, leaving the comfort of the bed only to use the bathroom. She ploughed through all the junk food she had taken from the kitchen, spending her time cuddling Bruiser while watching sappy romantic movies that left her curled up in a ball clutching her aching sides as she bawled her eyes out at the couples on the screen.

Margot, Serena and Pilar took turns checking on Elle every day. They tried to get her up and into the shower, or brought her healthier food, or just tried to comfort her a little bit, but their visits always ended with Elle kicking them out with tears running down her face.

There was no doubt about it: Elle was depressed.

Days Eight & Nine

Elle had gotten sick of sitting around doing nothing. She was miserable as hell and couldn't stop crying, but knew that she had to do _something_ to distract herself. She surveyed the room through swollen eyes and decided to do a huge clean up. It was a pig sty, and was beginning to smell pretty bad. She hadn't cared until now, but she decided that it was disgusting.

With that, she grabbed an empty garbage bag and picked up every piece of rubbish lying on the floor from her constant junk food diet. She opened the windows to air out the room, then stripped the sheets and put them in the laundry hamper.

It took her two days, but eventually she had cleaned the whole room from top to bottom, managing to stay focused enough so that she barely cried either day.

Day Ten

After waking up the next day in clean sheets and a fresh smelling bedroom, Elle decided that she liked this feeling a lot better than what she had been feeling the last few days.

She got up and took a shower for the first time in over a week, relishing the feeling of the water running down her body, trying not to reminisce about all the times she and Warner had taken showers together. On those fairly frequent occasions, she usually ended up being pinned against the shower wall as Warner made love to her, their sweat mixing with the water and making their bodies even slipperier. The shower had been their favourite place to have sex...

No! Elle shook her head frantically to erase the thoughts of Warner. She had been trying so hard not to think about him! Annoyed at herself for caving like that, she turned off the water and dried her body, walking out of the ensuite bathroom and heading to the wardrobe. Rooting through the back of the wardrobe for something new to wear, she came across her stash of alcohol, left over from all the parties she and Warner had got drunk at over the last year or so.

Tentatively, Elle unscrewed the lid of an almost full bottle of vodka. She held her breath and took a large gulp of the alcohol, letting out her breath slowly after she had swallowed, so it didn't burn as much. She was a pro at taking shots, Warner had taught her how to do it properly and they had practiced over the last summer. A lot.

Elle knew she was a lightweight and it wouldn't take her much to get drunk, but thought about it a bit more and realised that it would put her out of her misery, even if just for a little while. So she got dressed and took the bottle of vodka over to her bed. Sitting on the edge, she took another few swigs straight from the bottle and looked around the room, starting to feel lightheaded.

Her eyes fell on the picture of Warner she still had on her nightstand and, suddenly getting extremely angry, she staggered over and picked it up. She kissed his lips, then opened the window and threw the photo frame straight out. Hearing it smash on the pavement below, she smirked in satisfaction and yelled, "That's what you get for breaking my fucking heart! Go fuck yourself!"

Elle took a few more large gulps of vodka, emptying the bottle. In another surge of anger, she went around the room and picked up everything that had belonged to Warner. A bottle of cologne and his toothbrush in the bathroom. A few jackets and sweatshirts in with her clothes. A pair of his underwear under the bed. A box of condoms and an expensive watch in the top drawer of her nightstand.

One by one, she threw each item out the window after the photo. The last thing she threw was the empty bottle of vodka. Then, she promptly passed out on the floor before the bottle had even hit the ground.

Serena was just returning from a run when she saw Elle throwing things out her bedroom window. Curious, she ran over to the pile to investigate, jumping out of the way just as the vodka bottle smashed at her feet.

"Oh, shit..." she said aloud, then sprinted inside and up the stairs. Not bothering to knock, she yanked Elle's door open and looked around wildly. Seeing Elle on the floor, unconscious, she screamed.

"FUCK! Margot, Pilar, get your asses up here!" she yelled.

The other two girls came rushing into the room and were shocked to see Serena crouching next to Elle's limp form on the floor.

"Serena, what did you do to her?" cried Margot, slapping her friend.

"I didn't do anything, you idiot, she just drank a whole bottle of vodka, threw the empty bottle out the window and passed out!"

Pilar ran to the bathroom, where she filled a glass with cold water. She came back and dumped it on Elle's face.

Elle woke up, spluttering. She glared at the three Delta Nus.

"You fucked up my hair!" she slurred angrily.

They ignored her, lifting her off the floor and placing her into her bed. She fell asleep almost immediately and slept for the rest of the day.

Serena, Margot and Pilar took turns sitting with Elle to make sure she didn't stop breathing or throw up and choke. They had all seen Elle drunk, and had plenty of experience dealing with her. They were her best friends, after all.

Day Eleven

Elle didn't wake up until noon the next day. She had a slight headache and felt very sick. She launched out of bed and into the bathroom, throwing up into the toilet. Her mouth was dry and tasted terrible. After rinsing her mouth and brushing her teeth, she stumbled back into the bedroom.

She decided to spend the rest of the day giving herself a spa day. She had a long soak in the bath, put a special treatment in her neglected hair and gave herself a facial, manicure and pedicure. Waiting for her nails to dry, she watched television.

As she drifted off to sleep that night, she noted subconsciously that she had not thought about Warner once all day.

Day Twelve

Elle woke up feeling refreshed after her pampering the day before, and happier than she had felt in twelve days. She was still upset, but was starting to move on, knowing there was nothing she could do about it.

Margot came in to check on her around lunchtime, bringing salads for both of them. She hoped that Elle would eat lunch with her and maybe they could talk a bit. They had always had a special connection, being the two blondes in their group of best friends.

"Hey honey," said Margot. "How are you feeling today?"

Elle actually smiled. "I feel better, thanks Margot. I'm still really sad, and I miss him, but I'm not going to do anything stupid again."

"That's great, Elle. When are you going to come out of your room? We all miss having you around!"

"I don't know, Margot, I... It's so humiliating!" she replied, tears coming to her eyes. "I mean, I loved him so much, and I honestly thought he was going to propose to me! I was getting carried away in dreams of us as a family, waking up every morning together, raising kids in our own big house, being so happy together, that I didn't stop to even consider that he might not propose! Of course, I didn't think for a second that he would break up with me! I feel so lost, Margot," admitted Elle. "Every day, I wake up and remember that he's not here anymore. I- I want him back, I love him. It just hurts so much to know that he never thought of me in that way, that he just saw me for some dumb blonde! Well, I guess he was right, but..." she trailed off.

"Sweetie, you may be blonde, but you are not dumb!" cried Margot. "You are so smart, Elle, and so beautiful and so nice. We all love you, and if Warner chooses to break up with you, that's his loss."

The two blondes hugged, Elle wiping away her tears and trying to smile.

"Thanks, Margot. I love you too, you're a great friend. Want a Milky Way?" She reached for a packet on her nightstand, but Margot snatched them away.

"No! Elle, you have to stop eating all this crap! From now on, you are eating healthy! Understand?"

Elle made a grab for the packet, but stopped as she heard the rest of the Delta Nus talking downstairs.

"I'll go see what's happening," said Margot, running out the room with the packet of Milky Ways in her hand.

Elle sat on her bed and thought about what Margot had said. Her thoughts were interrupted by loud noises from the group of girls.

"What is going on?" she thought crankily, not really in the mood to talk to them, but figuring she had to make a start somewhere. She pulled her robe on and went into the hallway.

Leaning over the banister, she snapped her fingers. "Must we all descend into madness?" she cried as loudly as she could, but still sounding hoarse and croaky from days of disuse.

The rest of the Delta Nus moved away as Serena, Margot and Pilar rushed up the stairs to greet her. Margot smiled at her, pleased that she was starting to take some baby steps after their talk a few minutes ago.

Elle had never loved her three best friends as much as she did then. She realised in that moment that they had been there for her the whole time, and had put up with all her crap. She owed it to them to try harder from now on.


End file.
